Louie Shows a Skill
by Animation Adventures
Summary: Louie tries to borrow money from Scrooge without his uncle noticing. Uncle Scrooge notices, and is baffled at the lengths his great-nephew would go to borrow cash.


**So, this popped into my head after reading mandaree1's "Counting Cards", and is inspired by an exchange between Louie and Scrooge in that story. Just a fun little thing I put together. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own DuckTales, or anything within the series. It all belongs to Disney.**

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Louie Shows a Skill

"Hey, Uncle Scrooge! Hold up!"

Scrooge McDuck stopped at his front door, about to leave for the Money Bin. Louie came hurrying down the stairs.

"What is it, lad? Make it quick. I've got a meeting soon," the elder duck said.

Louie panted, reaching his uncle and the front door. "We introduced Webby to Truth or Dare, and she dared me to come down to give you a hug before you left. If I don't do it, I get a strike for our 'three strikes or you're out' rule."

Scrooge raised an eyebrow. "That sounds like an oddly tame dare from Webby."

"Believe me, this wasn't her first idea for a dare. Her first idea was sneaking into the Other Bin and licking the mane of a unicorn you have down there," the boy said. "We had to set some limits on the dares after that."

If Scrooge was befuddled by Webby's original idea, he didn't show it. Instead, he shrugged. "Well, if it's a dare, it's a dare." He spread his arms out. "Come here."

Louie looked at his uncle. "You sound so casual about dares. Have you done some before?"

Scrooge nodded. "Aye, one of my adventures involved accepting dares from an entire council to change their minds about imprisoning me for a century. Now, on with it. I need to be leaving."

The green-wearing triplet embraced his uncle. They both enjoyed it for a moment until Scrooge frowned. He grabbed Louie's arm as he pulled away, the boy's face in an expression of shock.

"Lad…" He warned in a stern tone.

Louie awkwardly smiled. "Yes?"

"Did you just try to pickpocket me?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"I felt your hand try and slip down here," Scrooge said. He motioned down to the pocket of his red jacket. Lifting his hand up to his back, he said, "Hugs go up here, not down there."

Louie shook his head. "I wasn't trying to do that, Uncle Scrooge."

"Llywellyn…"

Just the mention of his actual first name made the hoodie-wearing triplet crack. "Okay, I tried. Happy?"

Scrooge really needed to get going, but he felt that it could wait until he sorted this out. Folding his arms, he looked down crossly at his youngest nephew. "Whatever possessed you to do such a thing? You don't pickpocket family."

"There was no dare. I made all that up," Louie sighed. "The truth is I saw a commercial for this pay-per-view movie, and I really want to watch it. I've never seen a pay-per-view movie, and those cost money, and I thought if I could borrow some cash, I could watch it and pay you back later. I figured you wouldn't miss a couple bucks."

Scrooge looked at Louie in disbelief. "You went through all that trouble, just so you could watch a movie? Lad, why didn't you just ask me?"

Louie looked down at his webbed feet. "I figured you'd say no."

"And why would I say no to that?"

"Because you already made some concessions for Huey, Dewey, and me. You promised to pay for whatever Huey needed to complete his more expensive and difficult badges, you got Dewey those dart guns so he'd have something to actively play with, and you allowed me to have my Pep and junk food. I know you're stingy with your money, and I figured you wouldn't want to spend much more than that." Louie paused for a moment. "Also, I really wanted to hold your wallet in my hands. I wanted to know what holding a rich person's wallet felt like."

Shaking his head, Scrooge muttered, "Curse me kilts… Louie, just because I'm stingy doesn't mean I won't make exceptions every now and then." His cellphone went off in his other pocket. He pulled it out to answer. "Hello?"

"Hey, Mr. McD? You coming? You're going to be late for your meeting. You okay?" Launchpad asked over the phone. "I would honk, but that sounds rude to do to your boss."

"I'm fine, Launchpad. Just taking care of a last-minute thing with one of the kids. Give me a minute, maybe two, and I'll be right out."

"Gotcha. Oh, if it's Dewey, tell him his best buddy says good morning!" Launchpad ended the call.

Putting his phone back in his pocket, Scrooge continued where he left off, "As I was saying, constantly asking about pay-per-view movies would be one thing, but as long as it's every once in a while like a full moon, I don't see any harm in it."

"Oh," Louie said, blinking. He stuffed his hands in his hoodie pocket. "Now I feel stupid."

"You just went about asking your question the wrong way." Scrooge patted him on the shoulder. "Though, I do have to ask this. How'd you learn about pickpocketing? If I wasn't so used to Goldie O'Gilt trying to get my cards, I wouldn't have felt that."

Louie averted his gaze. "I'll never tell."

"You haven't been doing it to your Uncle Donald, have you?"

The boy's gaze snapped back. "What? No! I'd never do that to Uncle Donald. Besides, I have other ways of getting money from him."

Scrooge hummed critically. "Kids your age shouldn't know that skill. Or at least, if you do know it, you should use it for the right reasons- like getting keys off of inter-dimensional prison guards, or getting necessary maps from dastardly enemies on an adventure."

"Do you know how to do it?" Louie prodded.

"Aye, like I said. Goldie O'Gilt. If that woman ever gets her hands on my cards, I needed to get them back somehow."

"Am I in trouble? Are you going to tell Uncle Donald?"

"No, on both accounts. One, because you didn't actually get my wallet. Two, because if your Uncle Donald knew that you knew that skill, he'd go on a tangent."

Donald Duck was known for his long angry spells.

"Also, I want you to keep practicing that skill."

Louie did a double take. "Wait, what? But you just said that kids my age shouldn't know that."

"Yes, but since you know it anyhow, you might as well perfect it for when you're a grown adventurer seeking out treasure." Scrooge took out his phone again, checking the time. "Agh, I'm really going to be late now." The elder duck glanced at his nephew as he put away the phone. "Why don't you come to the Bin with me? You can tell me all about that movie you want to watch on the way, and I'll consider it. You can even sit in on the meeting. If you're going to become a great business man like me, you should learn something from that."

Louie shrugged. "Well, I didn't have any plans except for that movie. I guess I'm free."

Scrooge smiled at him. "Atta boy, lad." Opening the front door, he ushered Louie outside and closed the door behind them.

They made their way down to the limo and climbed inside. Launchpad began driving them off the property.

As great-uncle and great-nephew sat in the backseat, Scrooge looked over at Louie. "You wanted to know what it felt like to hold my wallet, you say?"

"Yeah…" Louie hesitantly confirmed.

Smirking, he reached into the pocket that Louie had previously reached for, and pulled out the square object made of brown leather. He held it out to the green-wearing triplet, nodding his head.

Staring at the elder duck in surprise, Louie took the cash-filled wallet from his great-uncle's hand. "Wow…" He said quietly, transferring it from one hand to his other and looking it over.

"That is what you'll feel one day when all your hard work pays off," Scrooge informed him.

The End


End file.
